Hit the road with me as I aim for gold

So many of you already know that I like to go to cons and cosplay. Well, I had the incredible and adorable opportunity to do a couple cosplay with someone besides my brother.

I cosplayed Asuna from Sword Art Online, and the bae cosplayed Kirito. Yes, the biggest ship in the anime industry (well maybe not, but I think so.)

Without further ado, here are 7 MUST-DO’s for couple cosplayers. Spoken from experience.

1)Take pictures.

Okay this one is obvious. What’s a cosplay without pictures. You’re going to have people constantly asking you, “Can I take your picture? You guys are sooo cute!!!” And so you have to be all cute for ten seconds and smile… or be epic.

Take cute pictures – Because you’re a couple. You have to be adorable.

Take epic pictures – Those in-character pictures that are all dramatic and super cool-looking.

Take selfies… lots of selfies. – What’s a cosplay without selfies?

2) Hug.

People think it’s cute, apparently. More photo ops.

3) Help each other out.

I speak from experience – You both are cosplaying, and you both need some help with the cosplay sometimes. If you’re cool with it, help each other out once in awhile. My Kirito had some serious wig problems every time he started headbanging to a song. It made for some very interesting wig-styling pictures.

4) Look at your merch.

I mean, you’re at a con! You’re bound to find some merchandise related to your cosplay. Maybe grab a souvenir, or just look at it.

5) Find your people.

Look for your fandom. Hetalians and Homestucks are hard to miss. If you find your tribe of weirdness, you might be able to do a group cosplay photoshoot, and those are pretty cool!

6) Play the Pocky game.

If you’ve heard of the Pocky game, good. If you haven’t, just think Lady and the Tramp pasta scene… with chocolate covered biscuit sticks.

And of course…

7) Just kiss.

If you’re not cosplaying with your brother, just kiss. You’ll be in-character anyways.

Soooo that’s a wrap. Have you ever done a couple cosplay before? Share in the comments below.

See you guys next time! 😀

(Con photo creds go to my friend Emma (@EmmaBird2015), and the bae <3. Special thanks to Conbust and the students at Smith College for the opportunity to experience this con and campus!)~#1kid

Many moons ago, I spoke of a goal that blossomed into an opportunity last summer. This opportunity was swimming in the State Games of America 2015.

So what happened?

My wallet happened. The plane ticket was quite a bit of money that I couldn’t afford.

But here’s the cool thing:

My first USS Swim Meet went really well. So well that I really want to continue.

The first USS meet went like this:

Me: Whoa look at all these people!

Me: They’re really tall.

Me: Oh, man, there are 87 people in my event.

Me: Well, I’m not gonna win.

Me: Hey, how are you?

Person: I’m good!

FRIENDSHIP HAPPENS! 😀

So the lesson was this: There is nothing more exciting than meeting someone that shares your passion. I’m used to the people on my team complaining about how they don’t want to be there. Well, let me tell you this, THESE PEOPLE WANTED TO BE THERE. They signed up for it, they wanted it, and they love what they do! The atmosphere was so different than that of what I was used to, I went home so elated that I ate apple pie!

This post is about CAMP ANIME!!!!! I went last year, but this year was waaaay better in so many ways!

Firstly, I cosplayed this year. If you don’t know what cosplaying is, then basically it’s where people dress up as a character and then hang out with other people that are dressed as a character (perhaps from the same franchise) and have fun. It’s pretty cool when you see how hard fans work to make sure their costumes are just right before a convention.

This year, I cosplayed as Fem!Japan from Hetaia. Honestly, I looked like a really strange girl in traditional Asian clothing with short black hair with a flower in it. I looked pretty different with the short hair, and anyone who already knew me was like “WHAAAA YOU CUT YOUR HAIR NO!!” No, I did not cut my hair. Wigs, my friends, can help you with your cosplays.

Secondly, I had friends with me, and I met a ton of people. I had told my friend about Camp Anime, and she was extremely excited almost immediately. Soon enough, we’re both signed up and psyched!

The two of us met tons of really cool people. It was amazing how many Hetalians were there! Now, we talk all the time!

Thirdly, my siblings and I took part in some really fun panels. One of my favorites was the Movie-Making panel. We had 15 minutes to plot our small story, 15 minutes to film, and 15 minutes to edit our videos. The whole idea was two adults were reminiscing about their first convention, and then there’s a flashback from the convention. It was genius on our friend Austin’s part! This is what it turned out to look like: http://youtu.be/Xn6YbAruJqQ

My friends and I actually ran the Hetalia panel on the spot! We also took part it Live Angry Birds, Sushi Making (Mom’s favorite), and a few others.

The setup of the convention was that of a camp… Actually, it was a camp. We were in the woods, there was a lake, there were cabins where overnight campers slept, and a huge dining hall. My sister and I got the chance to go on a pedal boat, which was very fun.

If you want to see more: Check out this video that sums up the whole weekend! http://youtu.be/g_vUarlESG0

Thank you to all that made Camp Anime possible, to all of my friends, and to Mr. Anthony Santos for the videos. Camp Anime 2014 would not be as amazing as it was without all of you! 😀

The first I’d like to remind you all about the past events of the summer:
I attended training camp in early July, and learned much more about my favorite sport of all: Swimming. My left rotator cuff healed with proper training and rest. I had the State Games coming up, and the National Games to qualify for…
So what happened at the State Games?
Sunday morning I arrived at the Aquatic Center at a college. It’s a nice complex, for sure! We checked in, and I warmed up by doing some of the drills the camp had taught me.
I was nervous, but I knew I had the tournament in the bag. My only problem was swimming against the older kids. See, when there aren’t enough people in an event, they merge the age groups so the meet can go by quicker and everyone can go home. But someone had told me that qualifications and medals were awarded by race, not age group. I began freaking out, and becoming so nervous and upset, I was pretty angered by the time the meet had begun.
Turns out, that lady didn’t know what she was talking about and I would be okay.
In my first event, the 50 yard Freestyle, I swam 29.34 seconds. It was a personal best, and I placed first! In my 100 yard Breastroke, I placed second with a meh time of 1:33.15. The girl in front of me was on fire. Literally. The smoke was unbearable. In my third and final event, I swam a winning 1:07.88. Not a best, but it’s good!
That means I qualified for all three of my events in the State Games of America in 2015. Only one thing to do: TRAIN HARDER. Next year, I’ll be one year older, and ready for more competition, and my times will have decreased even more. Believe me, I can’t wait.

My amazing brother, FantasyFan, has joined the swim team! After years of begging him to try out, he’s finally agreed to come for a swim. J

Secondly, I went to training camp.

The Nike Swim Camp was the greatest training experience I’ve ever had. The coaches were head college swimming coaches and the girls’ counselors were actually still swimming in their universities.

Personally, I’ve never done anything like this before so, of course, I was nervous! Turns out, there was absolutely NOTHING to be worried about.

The food there was AWESOME. Three gigantic meals per day and a truckload of pasta. For real. Some of us campers would say as we stuffed our faces, “#Carbsarelife.”

That’s another thing, the campers. I met quite a few new friends this week and we still talk to each other all the time. Whenever I go places, I always stay on the lookout for other swimmers that understand what it’s like to be stuck at a swim meet every weekend, or the joy of winning by a millisecond. I met those people and I am so glad I did! I also would like to mention I had the coolest roommate in the world (shout out to my roommate).

The most important thing I learned is that technique is more important to practice than the stroke itself. Apparently, my elbows weren’t coming up high enough in Freestyle, and my arms were coming too high in my Butterfly, and my head needs to stay down in Breastroke, and my right arm needs to come over my head in my fly/breast turn, etc. The list goes on.

So seriously, check out Nike Swim Camps or any USSC Sports camps here!:

Now, we’ve had plenty of life experiences to tell all about, but now it’s time to get to the real reason of this blog: Road to Gold.

What does it mean? It means this blog is supposedly about my Road to Gold. Of course. Any attempts to get one of those precious medals have failed. I’ve tried once, and it failed due to a head injury.

So now that I’ve gotten back on my feet and am all healed, I can continue on the Road.

This past season has been rather painful. As I mentioned in a previous post, I hurt my shoulder. The sport of archery (FF101, my bro, is well involved in it) has messed up the rotator cuff. It really, really hurt. And it limited my swimming, my skiing, my archery, my tennis, and even my sleep.

The consequence was my best stroke stripped from me for the whole season. Yes, I could not swim Butterfly Stroke at all. If you’ve seen the Butterfly stroke in action, you’d noticed the shoulders. How the work so hard to get those arms up and around with such force. Since Backstroke is also strenuous on the shoulders, I was stuck with my least favorite stroke of them all: Breastroke.

I surprisingly did alright. I definitely improved, an hour and forty-five minutes of freestyle and Breastroke, three times a week must have paid off!

It was a really interesting season. I couldn’t swim as hard as usual, so I wasn’t placed in the big championships. However, I was fast enough to win the smaller championships. 🙂 I got first in all of my events, and getting first and second in the relays.

Now the season is over. And a new challenge awaits.

Remember last summer? The state championships and the concussion? Well, THIS year, each state gets a chance to qualify for the State Games of America 2015 in Nebraska. How to qualify is simple: Get first, second, or third place in your event.

So that’s my goal for this year: Qualify for the SGA. It’s going to be difficult, but I have friends that know I can do it.

Ever think you’re going to fail? Did you feel encouraged to know that people had your back the whole time?

I wanted to remind you that JUST BECAUSE SPRING IS HERE, DOESN’T MEAN THE SNOW’S GONE. What I did with that precious white stuff this winter was probably the coolest ever. Trust me.

So there’s this mountain called Mount Monadnock. Under this popular mountain there is a bible camp called “Monadnock Bible Conference”. The camp had many retreats: Winter Teen, Summer Teen, Summer Kids, Women’s, etc,. I, of course, went to the Winter Teen retreat (Formally called Encounter).

I mean this place had the coolest stuff to do. There was snow tubing, laser tag, a game room, the snack bar, a talent show, and of course, the coolest sessions ever. Not to mention the rubber chickens hidden throughout the camp.

Our secret chicken loot!

The food was heavenly. And I mean heavenly. We had pizza at 11pm on Friday night, pancakes for breakfast, tacos for lunch, mashed potatoes for dinner, I forget for breakfast, and CORN for lunch. It was pretty much the best weekend of food in my life.

The activities were probably one of the best parts. I had mentioned above that there was snow tubing. We went night tubing as well! Actually, at snow tubing, I had met a few new friends who are super awesome!!! The laser tag was also very fun, though someone ran into a barrel while they were shooting at us. It looked like it hurt. A lot.

The music, oh the music. It was so good. One of the leaders rapped for us (which was cool), and the Chris Evans Band lead worship at all of the sessions. He was filled with talent and sang wonderfully, accompanied by his other musically gifted band members.

Dwight Night and his speech series on the 5 Questions

Our speaker, Dwight Knight, was so filled with wisdom and he had so much to offer. Dwight taught us about the 5 Questions:

1. Origin: How did I get here? We need to know how we got here before we start asking anything else.

2. Purpose: Why am I here? Why did God put me on this Earth anyway? The answer is to show everyone that god could love me.

3. Nature: Why do I act the way I do? Because it’s in our nature, of course. We’ve been sinning since Eve ate the apple.

4. Change: How can I be different? You can’t. Sin never really goes away. But filling our minds with prayer, Christian fellowship, and simply God can really make the difference.

And 5. Destiny: What happens after I die? The world keeps on spinning. It was spinning before you were born, and it’ll continue after. However, WE are not just “over” when we die. We accept Jesus while we’re alive, but then we have an eternity with Him when we die.

Have you ever been to a camp or retreat? Did you have fun?

Or how about this: Do yourself a favor and think about the questions above. Check out Dwight’s books if you’d like. 🙂

So in my post about swimming last May, I mentioned the candidate cities for the 2020 Olympics. They were Madrid, Spain; Istanbul, Turkey; and Tokyo, Japan. If you didn’t know, I’ve always wanted to go to Japan… always…

I think my Olympic dream might actually come true. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Saturday night at 5:00 in Buenos Aries that the 2020 Summer Olympic Games will be hosted in Tokyo.

That’s right, y’all! TOKYO!

I was on my way to Glow Golf with my fabulous Youth Group when my annoying brother, Ludwig, randomly shouted “AUDREY! CHECK THE IOC!!! Where’s the Olympics!?!?!?!?!”

Then I started freaking out. Luckily, my friend handed me her phone and let me searched and there it was in big, bold, beautiful, amazing letters:

Yeah, Luddy is starting archery. I thought I’d also give it a shot. 🙂 Maybe Luddy and I could compete in States together! MAYBE WE COULD BOTH BE IN THE OLYMPICS TOGETHER? 😀 I, in swimming and Luddy in archery!

I know… Another thing on my large plate of activities and sports. But since I had to stop karate last year, I have a little bit of time before the swim season starts up again! Lud, Emma, my mom, and I went to the local range for a lesson in archery.

Luddy and I were pretty good! It looked as if the teacher was surprised to see that I wasn’t starting lessons. Fortunately, there was one more opening for me to join. How excited I was! 😀

Maybe you remember the time when I blogged about Japan. Well this is my blog about New Zealand, Land of the Long White Cloud. I would like to go there someday because of the scenery, Lord of the Rings was filmed there, my favorite bird the Kiwi, and there’s plenty of cool things to do there.

The landscapes and scenery are beautiful. There are huge mountains, rivers and lakes, islands, and grasslands, and even volcanoes. New Zealand is located between the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea so you’ll a lot of beaches and waves.

The Kiwi is a flightless bird seen in New Zealand. They’re cute, quite fluffly, and around the size of a domestic chicken. The kiwi is a national symbol of New Zealand, and the New Zealanders actually are also known as kiwis.

The Maori, the tribal group of New Zealand, preserve their way of living as much as they can. They are talented in wood carving, dancing, and singing in their special way. A greeting they often use still is the Hongi, an act of rubbing noses.

The climate and weather here depends where you are. In the south, it gets colder seeing that Antarctica is getting close. The north is much warmer. There are actually volcanoes and boiling hot springs up north and in the sea.

There’s a whole bunch to do in New Zealand. You can ride a jet boat, watch dolphins playing underneath you from a boat, there are plenty of museums, and you can watch sailing races. New Zealand won the world cup twice.